


That Which Does Not Kill Us

by AthenaNuu



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Post-Undertale Neutral Route, Post-Undertale Neutral Route - Near Genocide Ending, Undertale Neutral Route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-07-18
Packaged: 2020-05-15 11:43:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19295053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AthenaNuu/pseuds/AthenaNuu
Summary: A monster tore through the Undergeound and left it in fragments.Alphys is coronated, left to pick up the pieces, left to wonder what went wrong.She demands answers, and seeks them straight from the source of the chaos.A phone call between Queen Alphys and Frisk, post Neutral/Near Genocide run.





	That Which Does Not Kill Us

**Author's Note:**

> This is my submission for the Undertale Neutral route Zine [ You're Pretty Bad at Being Evil](https://neutralzine.tumblr.com)
> 
>  
> 
> Artists and Authors collaborated to create a zine of the different Undertale neutral endings.  
> I chose to analyse a phone call that takes place after a near genocide run; pretty much everyone is gone and Alphys is left to rule over the Underground.
> 
> Download the Zine [HERE!](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1S8GzoSwvrXGQI7Me498SC36I3UZBglar)

Alphys didn't ask much from her people. She suggested options and offered solutions, and even when the stress was overwhelming and crushing and frightening, she always asked nicely. So when she made a sudden and unreasonable request- or perhaps it was a command- Sans didn’t quite know how to process it. She had disregarded the council and elected representatives, and confided in him alone.

 

“Find it, please.” She had said, maw curled in poorly hidden impatience and unshed tears of frustration shining behind her thick lenses. ”But you must be discrete.”

 

Sans tried to politely decline. He thought it to be a fool's errand that would never come to fruition.

Eventually he found a way to word how much damage could be done to their emotional well being, but for all his huffing and postulating he couldn't turn down a royal decree.

  


It had taken several long weeks to compile a list of those who had survived contact with the human known as Frisk, and it had taken even longer to personally question every single one.

 

Immediately following The Incident, the newly founded democracy had started rebuilding lives and livelihoods. With the stable foundations, the rate of Monsters succumbing to despair steadily decreased. Sans didn't want to indirectly restart another chain of negative emotions that lead to even more death and suffering, so each visit required a carefully balanced concoction of patience, tact and empathy. Sans listened carefully as Monsters recounted one of the worst days of their lives, and though his notes were thorough they were ultimately useless.

  


Alphys wanted no stone left unturned and she was determined to get results. Sans knew she was placing much of her hope on this singular task, and judging by the growing bags under her eyes, the stress lead to many sleepless nights. Yet, despite the tireless work and the resources at his disposal, Sans came up empty handed. He returned to the castle every evening to report his findings and avoided Alphys’ gaze the entire time.

 

He had run out of options.

 

Tucked away in the back of a drawer, a cell phone had sat out of sight and out of mind; a symbol of what was left behind, still gritty with Dust and reeking of death. He could have done this so much earlier, but it was a process that couldn't be rushed. Over time Sans built up the courage to pull the phone out and turn it on. He didn't want to admit how long it took for him to even be in the same room as the device, didnt want to think about how long it would be until he could be around the rest of his brother's possessions without falling into a further spiral of depression. Papyrus’ funeral had passed in a blur but, apparently, the process was still incomplete. There was still so much mourning, so much sadess, and he wondered if it would ever end.

 

Sans shook his head to chase the gloomy thoughts away and glanced down to the phone. He knew the interface like the back of his metacarpal and within seconds he had the contacts page on screen. It stunned him into silence to gaze upon the three numbers Papyrus has saved.

 

One for Sans, labelled “Brother Dearest"

One for Undyne, “Future Boss"

And one for Frisk, “Human Friend"

 

The phone numbers were useless, for each person was _gone_ in every sense of the word.

 

~

 

Alphys knew what Dust was. Every Monster _knew_ , even if they had studied nothing of the theory and the fine line that intertwined relativity, entropy and magic.

 

It was the foundation of her very being: the very material ichor that made up all constituent parts of a Monster. She had attended many funerals over the last few weeks, and partook in the rituals of spreading the powdered-diamond like ash across treasured books and worn, threadbare blankets. As per tradition, Alphys had let the King's discharged magic crumble through the gaps in her fingers. She thought it was to honour those who were lost, but she found the Dust was useless and dull, trickling into the air like an ineffective sand-timer, spreading in pearlescent clouds across the fields of Snowdin and the peaks of the Capital’s hills. She would never forget the way it had clotted together, but unfortunately the Dust had not been aware that it could not reform itself back together to create a being once more. She knew that the magic had needed time to come to terms with its own end, and the chaos of the universe needed time to let the fading dregs of determination disperse themselves back into the world.

  


She would never forget. The memories clawed at the back of her mind, but Alphys cleared her throat and tried to ignore the feeling of Papyrus’ Dust sticking to her sweating palms.

 

“I hate you.” She said into the phone's receiver.

 

The human never said a word in response. If it wasn't for the even, measured breathing on the other end of the line, she would have suspected she was merely talking to herself.

 

“At first I wanted to be a part of your story. I rooted for you, watched through the surveillance system as you interacted with more people than I ever dared to,” Her eyes burned and she willed herself not to cry, “but then you killed them. All of them.

 

“I felt guilty. I _still_ feel guilty. It's a helpless feeling, unable to do anything except sitting back and watching the massacre. It doesn't dull the impact by seeing it on a screen. I watched brave Monsters line up to take you down and as each one fell all I could do was hope; hope that if they couldn't stop you then you would destroy me next.”

 

Alphys finched, surprised by a gentle touch on her arm. She ducked her head and drowned in shame when Sans gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze.

 

“Ultimately, Undyne helped me.” Alphys let out a small sigh and took a seat on her throne. “I watched her die, you know. Watched the entire fight and listened to her final speech. Her parting words gave me the strength to work through my fear to help people. It helped me let go of my shame to become a better person.”

 

Alphys didn't mention the finer details to the Human.

 

She couldn't find the words to articulate how hard she had sobbed when Undyne offered to buy everyone a little time so they could evacuate to safety. She couldn’t describe how she had acted before thinking, altogether numb and desperate. The Human didn't deserve to know that Undyne’s sacrifice had saved thousands of lives. They wouldn't care that the fleeing Monsters barely had enough time to slip into the hidden laboratories before the child continued their rampage through Hotland. The Royal Scientist had sacrificed her secrets to perform her duty, and though she would never share how anxious and terrified she had felt, in the end her worries had been unfounded. The Amalgamates were happy to be reunited with their families and everyone found sanctuary from the True Monster terrorising the cities.

 

She didn't have the heart to say that saving lives had been the easy part.

 

Alphys couldn't explain the full extent of the suffering, the indignity, the horror of the unknown as the Monsters locked themselves even further away.

 

In the cold and cramped darkness of the True Lab, they had waited. And waited. And waited.

 

Despite experiencing it first hand, she could not adequately describe the Monster’s paralyzing fear of making too much noise. Though hidden, no one wanted to alert the Human so they had put their needs aside, but eventually it had to be taken care of.

 

What little food and water remained had been pooled together and rationed to a near extreme degree. The Human didn't need to know that time had seemed to stretch on and on as they all huddled together besides lab equipment and stacks of documents. In the darkness, no one knew how long they had been down there, just as no one could have predicted how long they would spend waiting. Alphys was too shy to say that she had kept the perilous fires of Hope aflame and had taken charge once more to keep up moral: ordering a rotation of lookouts, deciding who would tend to the wounded and who would pass out the rations.

 

“We came out of hiding after the raid sirens finally stopped and it became clear that you'd finally left, but then the castle bells took their place- the King… Of course, you already know what happened. His funeral lasted an entire day and thirteen others fell down as a result. Your violence kicked the foundations of our society and that knocked everything else out of place. Because of you, I was elected in his place. Every keeps saying that despite the panic I was courageous and heroic, but I think that you killed all the truly brave people when they tried to stop you.”

 

Alphys gripped the arms of her throne and tried to ignore the burn of disgust that flared against her ribs.

 

“Things have changed down here. I've enacted some new laws and systems that should help everyone in the long run. I hope I can lead everyone to a better future but I've got some pretty big shoes to fill. I now understand the King's actions a little more: Asgore is- _was-_ different after his children died. He held so much wrath, a power stronger than hope itself, all in order to keep his people alive. I don't want to walk down that path, but it isn't difficult to hate you after what you did.”

 

Alphys couldn't tell whether the hiccup in the line was simply interrupting static or a small gasp from the human.

 

“I've got too many people to look after to care about how you feel. I’ve lost too many friends, lost too many future possibilities that were erased with your acts of violence. I will forever mourn that I missed my chance to stop it all before it was too late. I wish I had a second chance to do it all over again but time isn't a clock that can be unwound.”

 

Sans snorted out a derisive laugh and Alphys held the phone tighter.

 

“I don't want to be consumed with hate. It isn't in my nature.” She said through gritted fangs. “I will, however, disregard you completely and wipe the very memory of your existence from the face of the underground, because you do not deserve forgiveness and you do not deserve to live on in the fearful realms of our collective consciousness.”

 

She swallowed the putrid taste of hate. Though she was desperate to speak, it was a struggle to get the words out.

 

“Why?” Alphys asked, voice trembling with fear and sorrow and hate hate hate **hate HATE** **_HATE_ **\- “Why did you do it?”

 

A rustle muffled the signal, static twisting the line as Alphys stared blankly at the memorial fountain.

 

She waited. And waited. And waited.

And the silence stretched on.

 

Just before Alphys gave up all hope, Frisk spoke.

 

Their voice was surprisingly clear and astonishingly strong, and their words cut Alphys deeper than any physical blow.

 

“Because I could.” They said.

 

There was no remorse in that voice. There wasn't anything that indicated any kind of emotion at all, as if Alphys were speaking to an empty shell that merely mimicked an approximation of humanity. They truely were Death in physical form; wearing the skin of a human child and leaving chaos in their wake, with a course of destruction that could never be repaired.

 

The new Ruler of the Underground laughed aloud, humourless and hysterical as it echoed from the marble columns of her throne room and the pulsing magic of the Barrier that entombed them all.

 

“I should have killed you when I had the chance.” She laughed until she was on the verge of tears.

 

Alphys’ claws didn't even fumble as she pressed the button to hang up. She deleted the contact information, thus completely erasing their only physical connection from existence.

  


~

  


CONTINUE    [    ]

 

RESET           [❤]

 


End file.
